 "India lose first home Test series since 2012: Records made by Indian cricket team in the invincible era")
India suffered their first Test series loss at home in 12 years after New Zealand clinched a 113-run victory in the second Test in Pune on Saturday. India had come into the three-match Test series against New Zealand after completing a 2-0 clean sweep against Bangladesh at home. However, after going down to the Black Caps by eight wickets in the first Test in Bengaluru last week, t he Kiwis maintained their winning momentum by producing yet another clinical performance in Pune.
India’s last Test series loss at home prior to defeat against New Zealand came in December 2012 against Alastair Cook’s England. India, led by MS Dhoni, had won the first Test in Ahmedabad by nine wickets. However, England bounced back in the next two Tests in Mumbai and Kolkata, winning by 10 wickets and seven wickets respectively. The fourth Test in Nagpur ended in a draw.
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India had set quite a few records and milestones between that Test series loss to England a dozen years back, and now, when they have lost a Test series to New Zealand at home. We take a look at a few of the records since then:
— Between their 2012 Test series defeat to England and the series loss to New Zealand, India had won 18 consecutive Test series at home. That is the longest winning series streak for a Test team on home turf. When they defeated Bangladesh 2-0 in 2019, India surpassed Australia’s streak of winning 10 consecutive Test series at home. Australia had done so between 1994 and 2001.
Impact Shorts
More Shorts— At the same time, India had only lost four Test matches at home in the last 12 years prior to the defeat to New Zealand in Pune. In February 2017, Australia had beaten India in Pune by 333 runs. India’s next loss at home came four years later, losing to England by 227 runs in Chennai in February 2021. In March 2023, Australia had beaten India by nine wickets in Indore, and in January this year, India lost to England by 28 runs in the first Test in Hyderabad. India bounced back to clinch the series 4-1.
— India played 54 Tests at home since their 2012 series loss to England, winning 42 of them and losing just five matches, while drawing seven. India had a win percentage of 77.77 at home during this period. This is the highest, more than Australia’s win percentage of 72% at home.
— During the invincible era, India clinched eight Test series sweeps in India. This stat is for a series involving two or more Tests. Some of the biggest series sweeps came against Australia, a 4-0 thrashing in 2013 and a 3-0 demolition of South Africa in 2019. India also registered two series sweeps against West Indies and Bangladesh, and one against New Zealand and Sri Lanka.
— The Indian bowlers picked up 53 five-wicket hauls and 11 ten-wicket match hauls in home Tests since 2013. R Ashwin leads the list with 24 five-wicket hauls and five 10-wicket match hauls, while Ravindra Jadeja took 11 five-wicket hauls and two 10-wicket hauls.
— This is India’s only fourth Test series loss at home since 2000. India had lost 0-2 to South Africa in 2000, 1-2 to Australia in 2004, 1-2 to England in 2012, and currently 0-2 to New Zealand with one more Test left to play.
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